Bulgaria announces measures to prevent spread of bird flu

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Bulgaria’s Food Safety Agency announced special security measures on February 2 to contain an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in the village of Konstantinovo in the region of Bourgas at the Black Sea.

The measures aimed at preventing the spread of the virus include a three km protection zone around the area of the outbreak and a 10km surveillance zone.

The protection zone covers Konstantinovo and the surveillance zone includes, in the city of Bourgas, the Meden Rudnik and Gorno Ezerovo areas, as well as the villages of Vurli Bryag and Dimchevo. The surveillance zone also covers the villages of Cherni Vurh, Polski Izvor and Livada in Kameno municipality, and the villages of Drachevo and Debelt in the Sredets municipality and the village of Prisad in Sozopol municipality.

The Food Safety Agency said that in the village of Konstantinovo and the entire three km protection zone, all poultry would be killed humanely.

Agency officials would carry out a census registration of poultry and clinical examinations of the birds in the protection and surveillance zones.

All poultry products in the protection zone should be destroyed and buried.

Premises for birds, equipments, vehicles, yards and streets in the settlement would have to cleaned mechanically and disinfected repeatedly, the agency said.

In the two areas, there would be a ban on trade in and transport of poultry, wild birds, their hatching eggs and all poultry products. A similar ban has been imposed on products from wild feathered game intended for human consumption.

All vehicles entering or leaving the area should be disinfected.

The regional directorate of food safety called on people who have poultry for their personal consumption not to allow it out of their sites, to store feed indors, to separate ducks and geese from other poultry.

The Food Safety Agency banned the holding of exhibitions, markets or other gatherings involving poultry or other birds throughout the country.

The agency also banned hunting of game birds in the districts of Bourgas, Varna, Dobrich, Silistra, Shoumen, Stara Zagora, Yambol, Turgovishte, Razgrad, Rousse and Shoumen.

Owners of birds should monitor the birds’ health carefully and notify a veterinarian or the mayor if there were indications of sickness and raised rates of mortality, the agency said.

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